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The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Paper sheet with two drawings of a couple being separated and then reconciling

Object | Accession Number: 2014.481.3

Two pencil drawings side by side on white paper with colored pencil details created by Thea Kelstadt depicting the life of an adult couple in Cleveland Ohio. The left drawing shows the couple separating, while the right shows their reunion. In 1935 Thea married Fred Klestadt. In September, the Nazis announced the Nuremberg Laws which excluded Jews from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of German blood. The laws defined a Jew as a person who had 3 or more grandparents that were Jews, regardless of their religious practice. In 1937, fleeing rising German anti-Semitism the couple obtained US visas and immigrated to America in 1937, settling in Cleveland in 1939. In 1955 Thea and Fred adopted Julia Weinstock, a 14 year old Jewish Polish girl whose parents were murdered in the Holocaust. She survived by hiding in a forest bunker near Lvov. When that became too dangerous her grandfather took her and they both hid in a Catholic woman’s house.

A couple depicted in two pencil drawings with colored pencil accents on a faded white sheet of paper separated by vertical, wavy red and grey lines. The left drawing shows the outside of a multistory apartment building with two fire escapes. A crescent moon and 6 pointed Stars of David sit in the sky above. Out of the leftmost window on the fifth floor, hangs a dark haired woman in a blue shirt. Tears are falling from her face and she has a tissue in her outstretched hand. On the street, in front of the building is a man with a suitcase, marked FTK, in one hand, his hat in the other, and a bag at his feet. He is standing next to a gray car and looking up at the woman. The right drawing depicts the couple kissing while seated outside on a bench swing suspended by rope from 2 leafy trees. His arm is around her shoulders, their legs are extended, and to their left is a small dog. The woman wears a blue knee length skirt with red trim at the neckline, hem and waist. The man has blue pants with a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up. The ground in front of them is speckled with red and blue flowers. In the background is a house with a red roof surrounded by grass.

Dimensions

overall : 7.375 x 10.375 in. (18.733 x 26.353 cm.)

Materials

overall : paper, pencil, ink, colored pencil

Contributor

Subject:
Thea U. Klestadt

Biography

Thea Löwenstein was born December 19, 1912 in Düsseldorf, Germany, to a Jewish couple, Arthur and Erna Flechtheim Löwenstein. She had an older sister, Vera (1904-1948). Thea was an artist. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. Under Hitler, authorities quickly began suppressing the rights and personal freedoms of Jews, and boycotting their businesses. Thea married Frederick (Fred) L. Klestadt in 1935, and they honeymooned in Palestine, then returned to Düsseldorf. Fred was born in Düsseldorf on March 15, 1909 to Moritz and Rahel Aenne Lilienfeld Klestadt. He had a younger sister, Hilda (1913-1914). Fred was a well-educated man with a PhD.In September, the authorities instituted the Nuremberg Laws which made Jews second class citizens, revoking their political rights. These laws also defined a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents or who is practicing Jewish faith. The laws also banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews. Jews were also prohibited from working as lawyers, accountants, teachers and barred from civil service professions. Thea and Fred secured US visas and in October 1937, they left Germany. They arrived in New York on November 12, 1937. They moved to Cleveland Ohio in 1939. Fred worked as a traveling salesman. In 1955 the Klestadts adopted 14 year old Jula (Julie) Weinstock, a Jewish Polish girl whose parents were murdered in the Holocaust while hiding in a forest bunker near Lvov Poland in April 1944. Julie’s grandfather, afraid the childrens’ cries would alert the Germans took Julie and her infant sister to hide with a Christian woman. Later Julie’s sister was sent to a Catholic children’s home to keep her safe. She was taken away from the orphanage they never saw her sister again. After the war Julie’s grandfather sent her to America because young orphans received preferential treatment for US entry visas. Julie and her husband Larry have two children and live in Washington DC. Fred, aged 86, died on November 30, 1995 in Cleveland. Thea, aged 92, died on September 25, 2005 in Cleveland.

Record last modified: 2018-10-24 14:04:07
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn169861

Also in Fritz and Thea Lowenstein Klestadt family collection

The collection consists of two drawings, correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of Thea Löwenstein Klestadt and Fritz Fred Klestadt before the Holocaust in Dusseldorf, Germany, and the United States where the couple emigrated in October 1937.

Woodcut portrait of Leo Baeck, owned by Julie Keefer, a Jewish Polish girl who was in hiding during the Holocaust with her grandfather. Baeck was a Rabbi and intellectual theologian who emerged as an important symbolic and political leader of German Jewry before and during World War II. Baeck helped other Jews emigrate from Germany and fought for Jewish rights. In 1943 he was deported to Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto labor camp, where he gave lectures on philosophy and religion and became a leader among the camp’s Jews. In June 1941, when Julie was two months old, her hometown, Lvov, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine) was occupied by German troops. In July several thousand Jews were massacred in pogroms. In November, Julie and her family were forced into Lvov ghetto and her grandfather, Aizik was taken to Jaktorow labor camp. In late 1943, Aizik rescued Julie and her family from the ghetto and they hid in a forest bunker. He decided Julie and her 5 month old sister Tola had to hide elsewhere as their crying made it dangerous for the others. In December he arranged for himself Tola and Julie to live with Lucia Nowicka who worked for a Catholic family. Aizik impersonated her husband and the two girls were introduced as nieces. When Lucia was briefly arrested, Aizik hid Tola in a Catholic children's home. During bombing in late spring 1944, the home was evacuated and he and Julie never saw Tola again. The bunker was discovered by the Germans and everyone was murdered. Lvov was liberated in June 1944 and the war ended in May 1945. Aizik, Julie, and Lucia lived in displaced persons camps. Aizik was able to get a US entry visa for Julie, and in 1948 Julie was sent to America where she lived in orphanages. Aizik and Lucia married and immigrated to the US in 1950. In 1955 Julie was adopted by Fred and Thea Klestadt, Jewish immigrants who had arrived from Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1937

Collection of photographs, correspondence, documents and school report cards relating to Thea Löwenstein Klestadt and Fritz Fred Klestadt from Düsseldorf (donor's adoptive parents). The couple married in 1935, went on a honeymoon to Palestine, and returned to Germany. In October 1937, after securing US visas, they left Germany, arriving in New York on November 12, 1937. They moved to Cleveland, OH, in 1939. Thea and Fred Klestadt adopted Julie and they became a family.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.